Constantinople from the Entrance of the Golden Horn Watercolour Heightened with Bodycolour 30.5 X 42.5 Cm (12 X 16¾ In)

Total Page:16

File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb

Constantinople from the Entrance of the Golden Horn Watercolour Heightened with Bodycolour 30.5 X 42.5 Cm (12 X 16¾ In) Thomas Allom (London 1804 - London 1872) Constantinople from the Entrance of the Golden Horn watercolour heightened with bodycolour 30.5 x 42.5 cm (12 x 16¾ in) The elegant, elongated forms of several caïques glide with great dexterity across the Golden Horn. Guided by the caïque-gees, or boatmen, with their oars made of beech, they are deftly driven forward. In the background lies the glistening city of Constantinople, with the Süleymaniye Mosque rising graciously above it, and the distinctive Beyazit Tower and numerous minarets poking out of the horizon. Deep into the watercolour, on the left-hand side, one can see a distinctive and longer caïque. Propelled through the waters by eleven or more pairs of oars, it is possibly transporting the Sultan himself, perhaps from Topkapi Palace to a kiosk or another palace further along the Bosphorus. This long vessel is ornately decorated at one end with a magnificent carved and painted curl. At the stern one can see an erected canopy, which would have been made from silk, under which the most important passenger sits. Beside him would be the Reis, a man often chosen for his humour and ability to entertain the Sultan on his journey, who was responsible for guiding the vessel. Alongside the caïques, large lumbering barges, crammed with people, ferry their passengers to villages along the shore of the Bosphorus. In the foreground, on the left hand side, a bulky and sizeable raft is being strenuously lugged along. Its cargo of timber framing indicates that it is probably destined for the Imperial Naval Arsenal. Thomas Allom was one of the great artists to travel to the near east in the early 1800s. In 1828 Allom began a fifteen year collaboration with the publishers Fisher Son & Co., and together with William Henry Bartlett (1809-1854), became the two leading illustrators for travel books on Asia Minor. In 1837 Fisher sent Allom abroad to make sketches of Turkey. He returned to England in April 1838, where 125 Kensington Church Street, London W8 7LP United Kingdom www.sphinxfineart.com Telephone +44(0)20 7313 8040 Fax: +44 (0)20 7229 3259 VAT registration no 926342623 Registered in England no 06308827 he prepared the plates for Fisher’s book Constantinople and the Scenery of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor, 1838, in which the present work was reproduced as the opening plate in Volume 1 before the frontispiece, with the same title. Robert Walsh provided the descriptive commentary which accompanied Allom’s scenic works in the publication. Walsh had been the chaplain to Lord Strangford’s embassy in Constantinople, and had travelled throughout Turkey from 1821 to 1824. He returned to Constantinople again in 1831, where he remained for a further four years. Thus he had a considerable knowledge of the city. Although no documents or diaries relating to Allom’s ten month journey exist, one can assume that he spent a lot of time in Constantinople from the number of plates he devoted to the city. None of the preliminary sketches Allom made of Turkey seem to have survived, though we know that he subsequently worked them up into a variety of formats and mediums for many years. One such example is his The Castles of Anadoluhisari and Rumelihisari on the Bosphorus. The present watercolour is from an existing group that Allom prepared for the engravers, shortly after his return from Turkey. Most tend to be of a similar size, 8 x 11 in, though the present work is much larger, 12 x 16¾ in. The dates of the group of watercolours are usually June or July 1838, and nearly all relate to the plates in the original 1838 edition. This group contains probably the finest Turkish watercolours he produced. Literature: R. Walsh, Constantinople and the Scenery of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor, Vol. 1, 1838, where reproduced as the first plate. Artist description: Thomas Allom was an English artist, topographical illustrator and architect, and one of the founder members of what eventually became the Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA). He was born in Lambeth, south London, the son of a coachman from Suffolk. In 1819, he was apprenticed to architect Francis Goodwin for whom he worked until 1826. He then studied at the Royal Academy School. His designs for churches shown at exhibitions in 1824 and 1827 aroused considerable interest, and he later designed many buildings in London (including a workhouse in Marloes Road, Kensington (1847), the Church of Christ in Highbury in 1850, the Church of St Peter in Notting Hill in 1856, and the elegant Ladbroke Estate in west London). Further afield his works included workhouses at Calne, Wiltshire (1847) and in Liverpool, design of the William Brown Library, also in Liverpool, (1857-1860), and the tower of the church of Basford St. Leodegarius, near Nottingham (1860). He also worked with Sir Charles Barry on numerous projects, including the Houses of Parliament and the remodelling of Highclere Castle. However, Allom is known chiefly for his numerous topographical works, which were used to illustrate books on travel. From the 1820s onwards, he travelled extensively throughout the UK and mainland Europe. In 125 Kensington Church Street, London W8 7LP United Kingdom www.sphinxfineart.com Telephone +44(0)20 7313 8040 Fax: +44 (0)20 7229 3259 VAT registration no 926342623 Registered in England no 06308827 1834 he arrived in Istanbul, Turkey, and produced hundreds of drawings during journeys through Anatolia, Syria and Palestine. The results of this expedition were published in 1838 in Constantinople and the Scenery of the Seven Churches of Asia Minor published in two volumes with text by Robert Walsh. Emily Reeve's Character and Costume in Turkey and Italy, published in London in 1840, was also illustrated with engravings by Allom. He is also remembered for numerous illustrations of China, published in China Illustrated in 1845. Allom suffered from a heart condition in his later years, and although he only retired in 1870, his artistic and architectural output slowed during the 1860s. He designed Holy Trinity Church, Castelnau (in south west London) in 1868 – his local church to which he contributed £50 towards the cost of construction. In 1865 he was commissioned to design a mausoleum for former MP George Dodd in West Norwood Cemetery. Dodd, who died on 15 December 1854, was one of the Gentlemen of Her Majesty's privy chamber from 1844, and MP for Maidstone from 29 June 1841 to May 1853. Allom died aged 68 in Barnes, and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery. Collections Allom is represented in the following collections: Tate Gallery, London; Courtauld Institute of Art, London; Royal Academy of Arts, London; National Library of Australia, Canberra; Indianapolis Museum of Arts, Indiana; Christchurch Art Gallery Te Puna O Waiwhetu, New Zealand; Tyne and Wear Museum, UK, amongst others. 125 Kensington Church Street, London W8 7LP United Kingdom www.sphinxfineart.com Telephone +44(0)20 7313 8040 Fax: +44 (0)20 7229 3259 VAT registration no 926342623 Registered in England no 06308827.
Recommended publications
  • CONSTANTINOPLE COMPOSITE the PLEIADES PATTERN the 7 Hills of the Golden Horn by Luis B
    CONSTANTINOPLE COMPOSITE THE PLEIADES PATTERN The 7 Hills of the Golden Horn by Luis B. Vega [email protected] www.PostScripts.org The purpose of this illustration is to suggest that the Golden Horn of the ancient city of Constantinople is configured to the Cydonia, Mars pyramid complex. The Martian motif consists of a 7 pyramid Pleiadian City, the giant Pentagon Pyramid and the Face of Mars or that of a supposed mausoleum to the demigod, Ala-lu. What is unique about this 2nd Roman Capital founded by the Emperor Constantine in 330 AD is that the breath of the Horn or peninsula is laid out in the approximate depiction of the Pleiades star cluster corresponding to the 7 hills of the Golden Horn. During the Roman and Byzantium periods, the 7 hills corresponded to various religious monasteries or churches as were with its twin capital of Rome with its 7 hills. The most prominent being the Hagia Sophia basilica or Holy Wisdom from the Greek. One of the main reasons the move of imperial capitals was made from Rome to Constantinople was because Rome was being sacked so many times by the northern Germanic tribes. Since the fall of Constantinople to the Muslims in 1453 the various churches have been converted into mosques. The name of Constantinople was changed to Istanbul by the Ottoman Turks who are Asiatic and used the Greek word for ‘The City’. The Golden Horn is in the European site of the Straits of the Bosphorus. The other celestial association with this Golden Horn is that it is referencing to the constellation of Taurus in which the Pleaides are situated.
    [Show full text]
  • Cagaloglu Hamam 46 Ecumenical Patriarchate
    THIS SIDE OF THES GOLDEN Yerebatan Cistern 44 Spiritual brothers: The HORN: THE OLD TOWN AND Cagaloglu Hamam 46 Ecumenical Patriarchate EYUP 8 Nuruosmaniye Mosque 48 of Constantinople 84 Topkapi Palace 10 Grand Bazaar 50 Fethiye Mosque (Pamma- The Power and the Glory Knotted or woven: The Turkish karistos Church) 86 of the Ottoman Rulers: art of rug-making 52 Chora Church 88 Inside the Treasury 12 Book Bazaar 54 Theodosian City Wall 90 The World behind the Veil: Traditional handicrafts: Eyiip Sultan Mosque 92 Life in the Harem 14 Gold and silver jewelry 56 Santralistanbul Center of Hagia Eirene 16 Beyazit Mosque 58 Art and Culture 94 Archaeological Museum 18 Siileymaniye Mosque 60 Fountain of Sultan Ahmed 20 Rustem Pa§a Mosque 64 BEYOND THE GOLDEN Hagia Sophia 22 Egyptian Bazaar HORN:THE NEWTOWN Constantine the Great 26 (Spice Bazaar) 66 AND THE EUROPEAN SIDE Sultan Ahmed Mosque Yeni Mosque, OF THE BOSPHORUS 96 (Blue Mosque) 28 Hiinkar Kasri 68 Karakoy (Galata), Tophane 98 Arasta Bazaar 32 Port of Eminonii 70 Jewish life under the The Great Palace of the Galata Bridge 72 Crescent Moon 100 Byzantine Emperors, Myths and legends: The Istanbul Modern Museum 102 Mosaic Museum 34 story(ies) surrounding Shooting stars above the Istanbul's Traditional the Golden Horn 74 gilded cage of art: Wooden Houses and Sirkeci train station 76 Istanbul Biennal 104 the Ravages of Time 36 $ehzade Mosque Kilig Ali Pa§a Mosque, The Hippodrome 38 (Prince's Mosque) 78 Nusretiye Mosque 106 Sokollu Mehmet Pa§a Valens Aqueduct 80 Galata Tower 108 Mosque 40 Fatih
    [Show full text]
  • Heritage at Risk Register 2016, London
    London Register 2016 HERITAGE AT RISK 2016 / LONDON Contents Heritage at Risk III The Register VII Content and criteria VII Criteria for inclusion on the Register IX Reducing the risks XI Key statistics XIV Publications and guidance XV Key to the entries XVII Entries on the Register by local planning XIX authority Greater London 1 Barking and Dagenham 1 Barnet 2 Bexley 5 Brent 5 Bromley 6 Camden 11 City of London 20 Croydon 21 Ealing 24 Enfield 27 Greenwich 30 Hackney 34 Hammersmith and Fulham 40 Haringey 43 Harrow 47 Havering 50 Hillingdon 51 Hounslow 58 Islington 64 Kensington and Chelsea 70 Kingston upon Thames 81 Lambeth 82 Lewisham 91 London Legacy (MDC) 95 Merton 96 Newham 101 Redbridge 103 Richmond upon Thames 104 Southwark 108 Sutton 116 Tower Hamlets 117 Waltham Forest 123 Wandsworth 126 Westminster, City of 129 II London Summary 2016 he Heritage at Risk Register in London reflects the diversity of our capital’s historic environment. It includes 682 buildings and sites known to be at risk from Tneglect, decay or inappropriate development - everything from an early 18th century church designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, to a boathouse built during WWI on an island in the Thames. These are sites that need imagination and investment. In London the scale of this challenge has grown. There are 12 more assets on the Heritage at Risk Register this year compared to 2015. We also know that it’s becoming more expensive to repair many of our buildings at risk. In the face of these challenges we’re grateful for the help and support of all those who continue to champion our historic environment.
    [Show full text]
  • Fall of Constantinople] Pmunc 2018 ​ ​ Contents
    [FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE] PMUNC 2018 ​ ​ CONTENTS Letter from the Chair and CD………....…………………………………………....[3] Committee Description…………………………………………………………….[4] The Siege of Constantinople: Introduction………………………………………………………….……. [5] Sailing to Byzantium: A Brief History……...………....……………………...[6] Current Status………………………………………………………………[9] Keywords………………………………………………………………….[12] Questions for Consideration……………………………………………….[14] Character List…………………...………………………………………….[15] Citations……..…………………...………………………………………...[23] 2 [FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE] PMUNC 2018 ​ ​ LETTER FROM THE CHAIR Dear delegates, Welcome to PMUNC! My name is Atakan Baltaci, and I’m super excited to conquer a city! I will be your chair for the Fall of Constantinople Committee at PMUNC 2018. We have gathered the mightiest commanders, the most cunning statesmen and the most renowned scholars the Ottoman Empire has ever seen to achieve the toughest of goals: conquering Constantinople. This Sultan is clever and more than eager, but he is also young and wants your advice. Let’s see what comes of this! Sincerely, Atakan Baltaci Dear delegates, Hello and welcome to PMUNC! I am Kris Hristov and I will be your crisis director for the siege of Constantinople. I am pleased to say this will not be your typical committee as we will focus more on enacting more small directives, building up to the siege of Constantinople, which will require military mobilization, finding the funds for an invasion and the political will on the part of all delegates.. Sincerely, Kris Hristov 3 [FALL OF CONSTANTINOPLE] PMUNC 2018 ​ ​ COMMITTEE DESCRIPTION The year is 1451, and a 19 year old has re-ascended to the throne of the Ottoman Empire. Mehmed II is now assembling his Imperial Court for the grandest city of all: Constantinople! The Fall of Constantinople (affectionately called the Conquest of Istanbul by the Turks) was the capture of the Byzantine Empire's capital by the Ottoman Empire.
    [Show full text]
  • TURKEY Threats to the World Heritage in the Changing Metropolitan Areas of Istanbul
    Turkey 175 TURKEY Threats to the World Heritage in the Changing Metropolitan Areas of Istanbul The Historic Areas of Istanbul on the Bosporus peninsula were in- scribed in 1985 in the World Heritage List, not including Galata and without a buffer zone to protect the surroundings. Risks for the historic urban topography of Istanbul, especially by a series of high- rise buildings threatening the historic urban silhouette, were already presented in Heritage at Risk 2006/2007 (see the visual impact as- sessment study by Astrid Debold-Kritter on pp. 159 –164). In the last years, dynamic development and transformation have changed the metropolitan areas with a new scale of building inter- ventions and private investments. Furthermore, the privatisation of urban areas and the development of high-rise buildings with large ground plans or in large clusters have dramatically increased. orld eritagea,,eerules and standards set upby arely knownconveyrthe ap- provedConflicts in managing the World Heritage areas of Istanbul Metropolis derive from changing the law relevant for the core area- sisthe . Conservation sites and areas of conservation were proposed in 1983. In 1985, the historic areas of Istanbul were inscribed on the basis of criteria 1 to 4. The four “core areas”, Archaeological Park, Süleymaniye conservation site, Zeyrek conservation site, and the Theodosian land walls were protected by Law 2863, which in Article I (4) gives a definition of “conservation” and of “areas of conservation”. Article II defines right and responsibility: “cultural and natural property cannot be acquired through possession”; article Fig. 1. Project for Diamond of Dubai, 2010, height 270 m, 53 floors, Hattat 17 states that “urban development plans for conservation” have to Holding Arch.
    [Show full text]
  • REGENERATION of GOLDEN HORN AS a “CULTURAL VALLEY”
    The Turkish Online Journal of Design, Art and Communication - TOJDAC ISSN: 2146-5193, October 2019 Volume 9 Issue 4, p. 491-513 FROM INDUSTRY TO CULTURE: REGENERATION of GOLDEN HORN AS A “CULTURAL VALLEY” Ceyda BAKBAŞA BOSSON École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne [email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5490-3019 Evrim TÖRE İstanbul Kültür University, Turkey [email protected] https://orcid.org/0000-0001-6720-0232 ABSTRACT The image shifts from industrial identity to cultural identity since 1980s in Golden Horn, one of Istanbul’s former industrial areas, encompassed cultural policies and urban regeneration processes in the area. This study discusses the positions of public and private sector investments in the region during the process of creating "The Golden Horn Cultural Valley" and reveals the policies that managed this regeneration. The research uses a multi-dimensional method considering both qualitative and quantitative data throughout economics, politics/urban cultural policies, society, culture and space. With respect to the projects, the authors highlight three main outcomes: (1) processes vary according to the actors, (2) lack of integrated vision and (3) disconnected cultural visibility. Keywords: post-industrial space, entrepreneurialism, Golden Horn, culture-led regeneration, urban policies, arts. SANAYİDEN KÜLTÜRE: HALİÇ’İN “KÜLTÜR VADİSİ”NE DÖNÜŞÜMÜ ÖZ 1980'lerden bu yana sanayi kimliğinden kültürel kimliğe geçiş, İstanbul'un eski sanayi bölgelerinden biri olan Haliç'te, bölgedeki kültürel politikaları ve kentsel dönüşüm süreçlerini kapsamıştır. Bu çalışma “Haliç Kültürü Vadisi” oluşturma sürecinde bölgedeki kamu ve özel sektör yatırımlarının konumlarını tartışmakta ve bu yenilenmeyi yöneten politikaları ortaya koymaktadır. Araştırmada, ekonomi, siyaset/kentsel kültür politikaları, toplum, kültür ve mekan üzerine hem nitel hem de nicel verileri dikkate alan çok boyutlu bir metodoloji kullanılmaktadır.
    [Show full text]
  • The Golden Horn: Heritage Industry Vs
    Uludağ Üniversitesi Mühendislik Fakültesi Dergisi, Cilt 19, Sayı 2, 2014 ARAŞTIRMA THE GOLDEN HORN: HERITAGE INDUSTRY VS. INDUSTRIAL HERITAGE Zeynep GÜNAY * Abstract: The revitalization of former industrial areas has been one of the crucial tasks of urban policy agenda throughout the world since the mid 1970s; whereas heritage industry has become the new orthodoxy in the shift from production to consumption as means for the restructuring and reimaging of post-industrial economies in the global order. The increasing tendency to link heritage and conservation with economic development has brought new meanings to cultural assets, the value of which has started to be related solely to the economic value it sustains or generates. The commodification and instrumentalization of industrial heritage by the heritage industry, in particular, has turned out to be the determining factor for creating opportunity spaces in the post-industrial areas. At the same time, many academics are critical on the attempts to reform post-industrial spaces of consumption with privatized spaces and commodified cultures. Within this context, the paper attempts to evaluate the role and the impact of heritage industry in the revitalisation of the post-industrial spaces of Istanbul, with a case study on the Golden Horn. The results of the paper are related to the following questions: What role the industrial heritage play in the revitalisation of historic environments? What are the ways to turn such industrial heritage into sources of social and economic development? What are the likely impacts on the local economy and local community? The conclusion gives an overview of the extent of the impacts that industrial heritage has on the Golden Horn, and in turn relates this back to the wider idea of heritage industry being promoted for the urban policy- making in Istanbul.
    [Show full text]
  • A Case of Energy Museum in Sanatistanbul, Turkey MA
    Journal of Contemporary Urban Affairs 2017, Volume 1, Number 1, pages 24– 34 Adaptive Reuse of the Industrial Building: A case of Energy Museum in Sanatistanbul, Turkey MA. Najmaldin Hussein Department of Architecture, Faculty of Architecture, Eastern Mediterranean University, Turkey A R T I C L E I N F O: A B S T R A C T Article history: Industrial buildings as an example of cultural heritage transforms our cultural identity Received 20 September 2016 from past to the present and even for the future. Unfortunately, there are lots of Received in revised form 5 industrial building which lost its function by converting the place to live and December 2016 identifiable place. This research will clarify the reasons of conserving of the industrial Accepted 20 January 2017 heritage and by classification of international charters which are dealing with Available online 2 January industrial heritage will introduce conservation methods for adaptive reuse of industrial 2017 buildings. As a case study, the research will focus on Energy Museum in Istanbul. To Keywords: assess the building based on reusing principals. The study concludes that Energy Industrial Building; Museum is one of the successful examples of reuse of the building. It also concludes Adaptive Reuse; that less intervention in reusing a building can save the identity of the building. Conservation methods; Energy Museum; JOURNAL OF CONTEMPORARY URBAN AFFAIRS (2017) 1(1), 24-34. Gentrification; https://doi.org/10.25034/1761.1(1)24-34 Sanatistanbul. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution - NonCommercial - NoDerivs 4.0. "CC-BY-NC-ND" www.ijcua.com Copyright © 2017 Journal Of Contemporary Urban Affairs.
    [Show full text]
  • Public Istanbul
    Frank Eckardt, Kathrin Wildner (eds.) Public Istanbul Frank Eckardt, Kathrin Wildner (eds.) Public Istanbul Spaces and Spheres of the Urban Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbib- liothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deut- sche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de © 2008 transcript Verlag, Bielefeld This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License. Cover layout: Kordula Röckenhaus, Bielefeld Cover illustration: Kathrin Wildner, Istanbul, 2005 Proofred by: Esther Blodau-Konick, Kathryn Davis, Kerstin Kempf Typeset by: Gonzalo Oroz Printed by: Majuskel Medienproduktion GmbH, Wetzlar ISBN 978-3-89942-865-0 CONTENT Preface 7 PART 1 CONTESTED SPACES Introduction: Public Space as a Critical Concept. Adequate for Understanding Istanbul Today? 13 FRANK ECKARDT Mapping Social Istanbul. Extracts of the Istanbul Metropolitan Area Atlas 21 MURAT GÜVENÇ Contested Public Spaces vs. Conquered Public Spaces. Gentrification and its Reflections on Urban Public Space in Istanbul 29 EDA ÜNLÜ YÜCESOY Globalization, Locality and the Struggle over a Living Space. The Case of Karanfilköy 49 SEVIL ALKAN Fortress Istanbul. Gated Communities and the Socio-Urban Transformation 83 ORHAN ESEN/TIM RIENIETS Peripheral Public Space. Types in Progress 113 ELA ALANYALI ARAL Old City Walls as Public Spaces in Istanbul 141 FUNDA BA BÜTÜNER Regenerating »Public Istanbul«. Two Projects on the Golden Horn 163 SENEM ZEYBEKOLU Public Transformation of the Bosporus. Facts and Opportunities 187 EBRU ERDÖNMEZ/SELIM ÖKEM PART 2 EXPERIENCING ISTANBUL Introduction: Spaces of Everyday Life 209 KATHRIN WILDNER Istanbul's Worldliness 215 ASU AKSOY Public People.
    [Show full text]
  • Pdf/Memoirejuliengrouiller .Pdf Gültekin, S
    Regenerating »Public Istanbul«. Two Projects on the Golden Horn SENEM ZEYBEKOLU Today, under the impacts of economic globalization, many of the world’s largest cities are witnessing major economic and spatial restruc- turing (Fainstein 1990), a multidimensional process involving interna- tional flows of capital, goods, people, cultural values and consumption of information (Van Kempen/Marcuse 1997) on a non-tangible level. On physical level, developments in transportation and communication tech- nologies (Giddens 1998), the changing spatial structure of economic ac- tivities (Van Kempen/Marcuse 1997), and the increasing ability of transnational companies to conduct transactions in non-spaces (Judd/ Parkinson 1990) are also part of this economic globalization. Further- more, the declining autonomy of the nation states over the control of their economies (Sassen 1998) is also leading to economic restructuring in many cities. Within this changing economic environment, major cities find them- selves in severe competition. Cities competing for mobile capital invest in technological infrastructures and transportation systems such as air- ports, highways, bridges. To attract headquarters of transnational com- panies, cities invest in high-tech office-buildings and luxurious residen- tial enclaves to house their workers in. To appease the newly emerging professional class who is part of this new economic system, many cities are providing more spaces for consumption and recreational activities. Major festivals, sports events, concerts and international conferences that a growing number of cities are hosting are also indicators of a newly emerging international economy (Short/Kim 1999). 163 SENEM ZEYBEKOLU With the election of Turgut Özal’s neo-liberal Motherland Party (ANAP) in 1983, Turkey also began to feel the impacts of economic globalization.
    [Show full text]
  • ISTANBUL the Ancient Constantinople the Ancient Constantinople
    ISTANBUL the ancient Constantinople DAY 1 / Khartoum – Istanbul by night flight and city sightseeing Departure from Khartoum airport with Turkish Airline. Arrival at Istanbul airport, meet and greet with your local guide and transfer to your hotel. Breakfast and city tour. You will proceed discovering the treasures of this amazing city, gateway to the Western and Eastern world. You will visit first the Basilica Cistern , an extraordinary subterranean cistern featuring a wildly atmospheric forest of columns (336 to be exact), vaulted brick ceilings, mysterious carved Medusa-head capitals and ghostly patrols of carp. This amazing building is a testament to the ambitious town planning and engineering expertise of the Byzantines. You will visit then Aya Sofya , a majestic Byzantine basilica. Built by order of the Emperor Justinian in the sixth century AD, its soaring dome, huge nave and glittering gold mosaic contribute to its reputation as one of the world’s most beautiful buildings, and its long and fascinating history as church, mosque and museum makes it the city’s most revealing time capsule. Looted by marauding Crusaders in the 13 th century, stormed by Ottoman invaders during the Conquest in 1453 and visited by millions of tourists since becoming a museum, it is Turkey’s greatest treasure. You will then visit Topkapi Palace , an opulent Ottoman palace complex occupying the promontory of Istanbul’s Old City. A series of mad, sad and downright bad sultans lived here with their concubines and courtiers between 1465 and 1830, and extravagant relics of their centuries of folly, intrigue, excess, patronage, diplomacy and war are everywhere you look.
    [Show full text]
  • Palace Gardens in Istanbul; the Example of Topkapi
    IJAUS PALACE GARDENS IN ISTANBUL; THE EXAMPLE OF TOPKAPI YILDIZ AKSOY, ÖZGE GÜRSOY, AYŞEGÜL SEZEGEN, İBRAHİM TEYMUR Abstract Historical gardens as an important type of green areas are important for today's societies in terms of their natural characteristics as well as their historical, cultural and aesthetic values. These historic gardens, which provide an environment for period buildings, are an important part of our cultural heritage, as well as evidence of the past and historical-social change. Palaces and their gardens, which were often built centuries ago, have significant environmental and cultural importance for today's cities and the societies that inhabit them. Istanbul, together with its other natural and cultural features, is also intimately associated with its historical environment of palaces. Istanbul, which is the most populated city in Turkey, possesses a number of palaces, namely Topkapı, Dolmabahce, Cırağan, Yıldız, and Beylerbeyi. The oldest one among them is Topkapı Palace, located on the peninsula where the Bosporus, Golden Horn and Marmara Sea interconnect. Topkapı Palace was the seat of government of the Ottoman Empire and the residence of the sultans for centuries. Keywords: Ottoman, Palace, Topkapı, Garden, Historical Landscape 38 IJAUS 1. Introduction Historical gardens as an important type of green areas are important for today's societies in terms of their natural characteristics as well as their historical, cultural and aesthetic values. These historic gardens, which provide an environment for period buildings, are an important part of our cultural heritage, as well as evidence of the past and historical-social change (Looker and Patrick, 1987). Palaces and their gardens, which were often built centuries ago, have significant environmental and cultural importance for today’s cities and the societies that inhabit them.
    [Show full text]